Expenses can now be added to invoices in a similar way to timecodes, terminology used in invoice process made clearer, more improvements to expenses, a faster way to create a simple project and adjustments to how some permissions are set.
Included in this release
Invoicing major enhancement and general improvements
- Terminology change for invoice statuses to make them clearer and less scary!
- You can now associate expenses to an invoice, this is done in the same way as you associate time entries to invoice line items
- Projects can now have a default Purchase Order number that flows through to invoices created for that project
- Column resizing on the invoice directories
- The buy price field has been removed from non-services invoice lines
- Fixed a bug where some data was inadvertently cleared when you change the invoice date
Improvements to expenses
- We’ve made the question around whether you paid for an expense yourself clearer
- Project managers can now save an expense and go straight the detailed view of it in one click
- You can now download receipts directly from the expense directories
- Expense directories now have a multiselect for claim status so you can view any combination of states
Speedy timecode setup when creating a new project
- You can now quickly add one timecode per budget (same name as the budget name), great for projects that don’t need a detailed breakdown.
Permission changes - Administrators take note
- De-coupled permissions for editing and creating new projects: you can give staff access to edit projects without the ability to create new ones
Other changes
- Added an organisation filter to the main forecasting screen
- Added GL revenue codes for budgets on the month end accrual report
API & SQL Views
- Minor update to the expense claims endpoint of the API
- Three new SQL views added to support reporting on expenses
If you have any feedback or questions please let us know - send an email to support@projectworks.io and one of the team will get back to you quick smart.
Terminology changes to invoice process
Responding to some consistent feedback we have made changes to the terminology used throughout the invoicing process.
Important to note
- The only thing that is changing is the terminology
- The process and number of states remains the same
- What you can and can't do to an invoice in each state remains the same
- Who can do what on an invoice remains the same
Changes to button labels
- Set Invoice to Awaiting Approval changed to Submit for Approval
- Set Invoice to Ready changed to Approve (Manager)
- Publish Invoice changed Approve (Finance)
Changes to invoice states
- Draft >> Draft
- Awaiting Approval changed to Pending
- Ready changed to Manager Approved
- Published changed to Finance Approved
A few things to note
- The "Ready Invoices" tab is now called "Ready for Finance"
- An invoice can be emailed to the client once it's been approved.
- The ability to "Publish and Email" from the invoice itself has been removed. You will need to send invoices either from the "Ready for Finance" tab (as you currently do) or from any invoice action menu from the Invoice directories (the three buttons to the right of the invoices)
Adding expenses to invoices
With all the work on expenses over the past few months we have now added the ability for expenses to be easily added to an invoice. The process works in a very similar way to how time entries are invoiced.
When creating an invoice, all billable expenses which are yet to be invoiced will be listed within the applicable budget on the invoice. By default, expenses prior to the invoice date will be ticked to be included on the invoice - you can tick or untick as required.
The amount of the invoice line can be set to the forecast amount, value of expense entries or a manual amount. When selecting expense entries the billable amount of all selected expenses will be included as the line amount.
Notes
- Only expenses marked as billable to customer will be included for invoicing.
- The billable amount of the expense will be used - the expense needs to be marked up (or down) on the expense prior to invoicing.
- Once invoiced the expense will be linked to the invoice and the billable amount can not be edited. The expense will need to be removed from the invoice if changes are required.
Improvements to expenses
We’ve made the question around whether you paid for an expense yourself clearer. The question has been relocated to the bottom of the form and you need to select an option before you can save submit the expense.
Project managers can now save an expense and go straight the detailed view of it in one click.
- You can now download receipts directly from the expense directories
- Expense directories now have a multiselect for claim status so you can view any combination of states
Improvements to managing expenses
A couple of changes have been made to help people who are managing expenses.
Ability to multi-select claim statuses
Use the multi select option to view any combination of states.
Download receipts directly from the expense directories
You no longer need to click into an expense to be able to download the receipt
Purchase Order Field on project - links to invoice
It's now easier to link a purchase order (or reference) from a project through to the invoice. A new "Default Reference / PO No." field has been added to the Invoicing section on the Project Settings screen.
The first invoice created for the project will automatically populate the reference field on the invoice with the value from the setting page, with subsequent invoices using the same reference until changed.
Fast way to set up a simple project structure
Not all projects require a detailed work breakdown structure. If you have a project where you just need a timecode within each phase, you can create a timecode of the same name with one click.
You can still add more timecodes if you want to.
Permission changes - Administrators take note
Some adjustments have been made to the service points which control which user access roles can allow projects and people to be added
Add Project
The ability to create a project was previously linked with the ability save a project. This has now been separated which provides more flexibility. This will be helpful for companies who centralise the project creation process, but still require project managers to be able to maintain and save project.
Project Service Points
- Project.Add - required to show the "add project" button
- Project.Save - required to save the project settings screen
API changes
- New field: InvoiceID
Refer to the Swagger definition to see the new endpoints.
SQL Views
Three new views have been added to support reporting on expenses.
- DimExpenseClaimStatus
- DimExpenseClaimType
- DimFX